Elephant Hunting - Botswana.

[ashokpkl]

Awesome but a bit sad too. Click on the link below.

[prashantsingh]

Amazing video. I have been charged by a mother elephant once (Cheela range, Rajaji National park), when I got a little to close to her calf (for a nice close up snap) . Narrow escape that was , jumped into the waiting jeep just in time. The African elephants are much larger than the Asian elephants. Our man has guts. He is armed with a powerful rifle no doubt , but you still need guts to get so close to these giants.
Elephants have poor eyesight but excellent smell. I wonder if (like the crocodile hunter) , our man is pushing his luck too far.

-- Sun Apr 04, 2010 9:34 pm --

There is an interesting story which my Professional Hunter told me in South Africa.

According to tradition . If you shoot an elephant in a single shot you cut the tail of the animal and keep it as a souvenir. Now there was this American hunter (client) who shot this massive Bull in one shot. The animal dropped down immediately. They cut the tail and then there was this flurry of snaps (photo session) from all possible angle.
Now you can't keep an elephant in your jeep and take him back to the camp....So they marked his possition on the GPS and went back .......Satisfied with their successful day's hunt.
The next morning when they came back ......the elephant was not there.
Who could have taken away such a massive animal.
No one.
The animal has just been knocked unconsious by the first shot and had fallen. Later in the night he had "woken up" and walked away.

An African bull elephant costs US $ 10,000 plus.
So they searched and searched ....but never got him.
The hunter went home with only the snaps..................and of course the tail.
While somewhere in the African Savana walked an elephant wondering where his long tail had gone.....

Now the Professional Hunter makes sure to knock in at least two more shots (heart and lung) even when the elephant is long dead......Just to make sure that his client doesn't loose his precious Dollars and the trophy.

Secondly a few extra shots does not "spoil" the trophy ...cause you are basically after the Tusks.

[shooter]

Ha ha ive seen and heard these stories about deer, boar and lots of other animals but never about an elephant.
In the hunting course i did, we are taught to check for corneal reflex to touch the eye with the muzzle of the rifle and check for the blink reflex. This is present in the 'knocked-out' or unconcious animal. But i suppose it wouldnt be possible to do even that in a tusker.

BTW, $10000 for trophy fees for a bull is cheap. Is this the same outfitter?

[prashantsingh]

Actually 10 K is the minimum you pay for a tusker. It depends on the weight of the tusks. If you get a bigger tusker you pay more .

-- Thu Apr 08, 2010 6:35 pm --

and on the lighter side.......$10 K is expensive for lesser mortals (like me who earn in Rs) but not so expensive for those earning in Pounds. ha ha ha. You know I have these friends who work and live in the U.S. and find London "damn expensive" and some working and living in the U.K. who find the rest of the world "cheap".

[shooter]

haha. bhai what i meant that of all the outfitters i contacted, no one quoted $10000. so its cheap by elephant hunting standards.

It is a lot of money even for me. As you said, london is expensive and though we earn in pounds, we spend in pounds. As my mom jokes, we eat Rs. 80 worth of dhaniya patta in a meal.

[brihacharan]

> Frankly the Elephant that was shot - appeared to be more like an "execution" rather than a hunt!
> The thrill & joy in hunting is to pitch your skills in tracking, chasing and outwitting the animal - infact you give the quarry an even chance.
> From the film clip you notice that this "Bawana" probably carrying a .375 magnum / .400 express rifle & walking within 40 - 50 yards of this poor unsuspecting Jumbo peacefully grazing - the next moment "bang" - it's all over.
> Well, it tugged my heart strings a bit to see the massive pachyderm virtually collapse - probably not knowing what hit him.
> I remember reading in the Time Magazine several years ago - about the game reserve officials in Botswana killing elephants to keep their population under control in a particular area. The article also reported that their tusks were auctioned & the meat was converted into dog food.
> Any way - thats how the cookie crumbles!
Cheers
Brihacharan

[shooter]

I remember reading in the Time Magazine several years ago - about the game reserve officials in Botswana killing elephants to keep their population under control in a particular area. The article also reported that their tusks were auctioned & the meat was converted into dog food.

The surge in poaching in kenya recently is largely attributed to auctioning the ivory seized from poachers. Now a lot of authorities feel that ivory auctions fuel poaching rather than curb than previously thought. Thats why the practice of burning ivory. Read wilbur smith for more details.
Slightly OT but thought id post this as i was about to post it in "general rambling" section later.

[prashantsingh]

I would still think twice before getting so close to the pachyderm. What we see in this video is the last few moments of the hunt. I am sure a lot of "tracking , chasing and outwitting the animal" must have already gone into it. Contrary to what many may think, elephants can run really fast. Seeing an animal that size turn towards you and get ready for a charge can be scary.
I have heard old stories of hunters trembling with fear on hearing the first roar of a tiger in the wild.
It is different on the small screen but an all together different experience when one is actually there.
There was a time when the Kenyan Forest Dept decided to kill elephants. They targetted the oldest and the biggest tuskers . After a few years they realised that by killing all the old tuskers there was a change in the behaviour pattern of the younger males. The young males had become boisterous to the extent that they had started injuring and killing other animals (like Rhinos) . With No old and senior males around to check their behaviour. Finally they decided to change the culling pattern .
The plight of the Indian Elephants is quite bad. We have no legal hunting in our country yet we have lost so many animals due to poaching. The number of socially and sexually mature elephant bulls in a poulation is an important factor in deciding the genetic virility of the population. Sadly in many elephant ranges in India (eg Periyar), uncontrolled poaching of tuskers has lead to a disproportionate sex ratio of 1 male to 120 females. On the other hand in places like Cheela range in Rajaji National Park (where the tuskers have not come under the shadow of teh poachers guns) the sex ratio is 1 male to 3 female. The construction of the Upper Ganga Canal running through the elephant migration route has localised the elephant population to one side of the canal. It is said that the eelphants of Cheela are the most "short tempered" amongst all Asian elephants in the wild. I don't blame them . They are simply overcrowded .
So, what makes sense to me is allow "licenced and legal culling" of tuskers in Rajaji and use the money earned from here to prevent poaching in Periyar.
But I know this will never happen. We will continue to put a BAN on legal hunting while the poacher will continue to plunder and rape our natural resources.